


Mind Player

by CeiphiedKnight



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Mildly graphic depictions of blood, No spoilers but just try not to worry about it too much, don't worry about the character death, use of firearms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-04 08:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6649258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeiphiedKnight/pseuds/CeiphiedKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Adrien is faced with getting shipped off to a University of his father's choosing, he decides to do the one thing that Papillon never expected...give up his Miraculous so that another Chat Noir could take his place at Ladybug's side.</p>
<p>Offering his ring to Marinette Dupain-Cheng, however, didn't go exactly as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Face to Face

**Author's Note:**

> I know we've been through every trope in this fandom, and approximately 100,000 ways to reveal a secret identity. But I haven't read every fic in existence, so here's an idea that bit me the other day! I meant to post it as one massive oneshot, but it's gotten way too long. So here's the first part, with the second part coming soon! Very very very mild implied sorta-sin. Like blink and you missed it. Rating may change for part two, but I haven't decided yet.

Three years.  
   
Adrien looked out over his city, a city of lights and love, and sighed.  
   
He was about to turn eighteen, and in the fall he would be going off to University.  Yet, he and Ladybug were no closer to finding Papillon and stopping him for good.  
   
He was crouched on a rooftop across from a familiar bakery, and found his eyes lingering there.  His friend, Marinette, had everything he had always wanted.  A warm, welcoming home.  Parents who adored her.  A promising future.  
   
Chat Noir lifted his head and let the wind tousle his already messy blonde hair.  He loved the way the cool breeze felt on his face, and the way it carded through his golden locks like the fingers of a lover.  
   
He closed his eyes for just a moment, reveling in the sensation, but then quickly snapped back to the task at hand.  
   
Marinette.  
   
He’d be leaving all of his friends behind…he’d be leaving Ladybug behind…and yet, somehow, leaving Marinette bothered him more than the rest combined.  
   
He had no idea when or how it had happened, but he had gotten closer to the fashion designer over the years, and at some point she had taken up residence in his heart.  He still loved his Lady, of course, but Marinette was something else entirely.  
   
When he realized that no amount of begging or pleading would convince his father that he should stay in Paris to continue his studies, it became clear that he would have to give up his Miraculous to someone else…someone who he could trust to keep Ladybug safe…  
   
And it was Marinette who was first in his thoughts.  
   
Marinette, the beautiful girl who had stood up to Chloe so often that the Mayor’s bratty daughter had finally transferred to a different school.  Marinette, who had somehow made friends with Lila, even though word had gotten out that the Italian girl was a liar and teller of tall-tales.   
   
Marinette, who had finally stopped blushing and stuttering around Adrien, and had become one of his closest friends.  
   
Adrien looked down at his right hand, and heaved a sigh.  His ring, his Miraculous, had given him freedom he had never even dreamed could be real.  His kwami, Plagg, was the best friend he’d ever had and never expected.  Well, next to Ladybug.  
   
And he’d have to give them both up.   
   
Adrien squared his shoulders and steeled himself with what had to happen next.  The bakery lights had flickered off, and he could tell that the Dupain-Cheng family was turning in for the night.  
   
Except for the youngest resident, whose bedroom light emitted a soft glow through the windows and skylight of her loft.  
   
Chat skulked across the rooftops, quiet as a ghost, and landed softly on his friend’s balcony.  
   
Ever so gently, he used one clawed finger to tap against the glass of a skylight that he knew from experience opened into Marinette’s bedroom.  
   
It only took a few seconds before Marinette’s face appeared, looking up at him through the glass.  He flashed her a toothy grin, and she rolled her eyes.  Without a word, she unlocked the trap door for him, and he quickly tumbled down onto her bed.  
   
Marinette latched the glass, and then turned to him with eyebrows knitted together in worry and confusion.  
   
“Chat Noir,” she said, quietly, “What brings you here?  Is everything okay?”  
   
The cat stretched out on her bed, making a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat.  
   
Exasperated, Marinette said, “Listen, kitty, if this is just a friendly visit, I’m afraid we’re going to have to postpone.  I have an important test tomorrow that I really need to study for and…”  
   
She stopped when she saw how he watched her.  
   
His eyes were fixed on her, almost in concentration.  If he were a real cat, he’d probably look like he was stalking a mouse.  
   
“Maybe this is a conjugal visit,” Chat Noir finally said, and then his eyes blew wide open.  
   
He had no idea why he’d said that.  
   
And now Marinette was blushing and mumbling and backing away.  
   
And then she tripped on the top of the ladder that led to the loft where her bed resided, and she was falling.  
   
Chat reacted quickly, on pure instinct.  He caught her in mid-air, arms wrapped tightly around her waist, and landed gently on the bottom floor of her room.  
   
 Without releasing her, he said, “You should be more careful, princess.  Who thought it was a good idea to give you a room with so many stairs…?”  
   
Indignant, Marinette spun away from his grasp and said, “Honestly, Chat Noir, I’m not in the mood.  Was there something you needed?”  
   
Standing up to his full height with a sigh, he finally faced the music.  
   
“Yes, actually,” he began.  “I need to talk to you about…well…about me.”  
   
Marinette’s eyebrows winged up at that, but she said nothing.  Instead, she walked to her small chaise and sat.  Then she gently patted the area next to her, indicating that he should join her.  
   
Chat sat down next to her, but hunched over with his arms resting on his knees.  He couldn’t bring himself to look at her…not yet…because of what he was finally going to have to say.  
   
“Marinette,” he said, and she was startled that he didn’t use one of his nicknames for her.  “I’m going to be leaving Paris soon.  My father is sending me away to University in Sweden… I – I tried to convince him to let me stay here, but he wouldn’t hear of it.  I guess he thinks that the areas of study offered in Stockholm will be better for me.  I shouldn’t be surprised, considering that he’s never let me choose what to do with my own life.”  
   
Chat paused, because he felt Marinette stiffen next to him.  
   
“Why are you telling me this?” she whispered.  
   
Finally, the black cat looked into the blue eyes of his friend and classmate and said, “Because I have to choose another Chat Noir.  The Miraculous have always gone to a new Chosen when the times comes.”  
   
Marinette schooled her features, trying not to give anything away.  
   
After all, she already knew the rules of the Miraculous holders.  
   
She took one of his gloved hands into hers, and laced their fingers together in her lap.  
   
“Chat Noir,” she said, staring at where their hands are joined.  “What makes you think that Ladybug will want to continue on with a different partner?”  
   
“Because she has no choice,” he replied.  “I’m leaving the country, there’s no other way.  That’s why I came here tonight.”  
   
Marinette’s head shot up and she made eye contact with him again.  
   
Had he come to her because he knew she was Ladybug?  
   
“I want to offer you the chance to be Chat Noir,” he said.  “Take over for me.  Help Ladybug.”  
   
Marinette’s mouth fell open in shock.  
   
“I…I can’t!” she exclaimed.  “What?!  I mean…no!  I can’t do that!”  
   
With that, she released his hand and jumped to her feet.  
   
Pacing her room, looking down at her feet, she suddenly seemed to be in her own little world.  
   
“Marinette?” Chat let her name hang in the air between them.  He had no idea what had just happened.  
   
And then she was upon him again, throwing her arms around his neck and forcing him to lie back on the chaise with her on top of him.  
   
He felt the tears before he saw them.  
   
Wetness on his neck, under his chin where she had smooshed her face, barely avoiding the jingle bell that was part of his costume.  
   
He awkwardly put his arms around the crying girl, and tried giving her comforting pats on the back.  
   
“You can’t go,” she breathed.  “Ladybug doesn’t exist without you.”  
   
“I guess,” he said, “But that’s why I’m here.  Someone needs to take my place…”  
   
Marinette leaned up and made eye contact with the masked hero.   
   
“You don’t get it,” she said.  “Ladybug can’t go on without _you_!  Not some other Chat Noir!  If you aren’t Chat Noir, then I don’t want to be Ladybug anymore!”  
   
If Adrien had to describe the moment that her words sank in, he would say that it was like the sound of screeching tires on asphalt, with some smoke billowing up for good measure.  
   
“You…” he began, but was silenced by her mouth on his.  
   
As far as kisses went, this one was sloppy and lacked any grace whatsoever, but it was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to Adrien.  
   
Pulling back, Marinette couldn’t hide her grin as she mumbled, “Stupid cat.”  
   
And then he was upon her, and there was no space between them at all.  
   
Strong arms pulled Marinette flush against Chat’s leather clad form, and she found herself straddling his lap.  
   
They kissed and touched and soon Marinette was grinding herself down into the lap of her friend and partner.  It was animalistic, the need she had to feel him.  
   
Chat’s hips thrust up to create more pressure between them, and he let out a soft groan into Marinette’s mouth.  
   
“I can’t lose you,” Marinette said, breathlessly.  “I won’t.”  
   
Chat gave her one last peck on the lips, then pulled back so that he could look at her and get his body back under control.  
   
“My Lady,” he said, and it suddenly felt so strange calling her that.  “I can’t stand up to my father.  You don’t know what he’s like.  He controls everything.  He’s never been there for me, and now he wants to send me away so that he doesn’t even have to pretend to care.”  
   
Marinette frowned at that and finally decided to ask the question that she knew would irrevocably change everything.  
   
“Who’s your father, Chat?”  
   
With a sigh of relief, and without even dislodging Marinette from his lap, Chat dropped his transformation.   
   
The girl found herself staring into the eyes of her good friend and middle school crush, Adrien Agreste.  
   
“Hi,” he said, somewhat awkwardly.  
   
Marinette let out a small “eep” and fell off the chaise.

****  
   
   
After some stuttering and blushing, Adrien finally convinced Marinette to let him kiss her again.  
   
So they did that for a while, but it didn’t change the matter at hand.  
   
They had made their way back up to her bed, and were simply holding each other (Marinette was the Big Spoon, which wasn’t surprising) when Adrien quietly said, “Now that I know it’s you…I would do anything to be able to stay in Paris.  But my father won’t hear of it.”  
   
Marinette began running her fingers through his hair and said, “We’ll find a way.  Once you’re eighteen, you should be able to do whatever you want, right?”  
   
Adrien sighed and said, “I thought of that, and I even threatened it a couple of years ago, but then he said he’d disown me and I’d be alone and penniless until I turned twenty-one and my trust was released to me.”  
   
Marinette was quiet for a moment, but then Adrien could feel her smile on the back of his neck.  
   
“It’s only a few years.  And besides, you’d never be alone.  You have me.”  
   
Adrien flipped around so that they were face-to-face and said, “Mari…will you come with me tomorrow to speak with him?  Please, I have to try one last time.  When we’re together, we can do anything…right?”  
   
Marinette looked at the green-eyed boy as if he were the most precious thing in the entire world, and then pulled him close as she whispered, “That’s right.”

****  
   
   
School seemed to take longer than usual, especially because Adrien wanted nothing more than to sit next to Marinette and hold her hand.  He drew courage from her, and he was in desperate need of some courage as the day came to an end and he knew what they were about to do.  
   
Marinette had suggested that they act like nothing had changed between them.  It was too close to the end of the year, and Alya would never let them get away if she caught wind of their very new relationship.  They had an appointment with M. Agreste to get to, after all.  
   
Marinette had had a few choice words for Adrien’s father, when she found out that the man’s own son had to book an appointment through Nathalie just to see him.  
   
“I’ve looked up to your dad for so long,” Marinette mused as she walked to the Agreste mansion, hand-in-hand with Adrien.  “It sucks to find out that your heroes are nothing like you wanted them to be.  I can’t even look at his designs now.  Something that I once thought was beautiful has turned ugly.”  
   
Adrien hung his head a bit and nervously worried at his bottom lip with his teeth.  “I’m sorry,” he said, “I would never have told you everything if I knew it was going to ruin one of your heroes for you.”  
   
Marinette stopped walking, and yanked him back to her.  
   
“You listen here, Agreste,” she said, and Adrien could hardly believe that this was the same girl who used to have a hard time forming coherent words in his presence.  “I don’t care about any of that, okay?  Nothing matters more to me than your happiness, especially not some designer that I used to look up to.  _You_ are my hero, you dumb cat.”  
   
With a grin, Adrien said, “You’re my hero, too.”  
   
“Then that’s settled,” Marinette said with a tilt of her head.  “Now, let’s go deal with your dad.  I mean, he’s a clothing designer, how scary could he possibly be?”  
   
Adrien kept his mouth shut.

****

 

Gabriel met with them in his office.

He looked down his nose at the clasped hands of his son and a girl he only knew by reputation, but he said nothing.

“Father,” Adrien began. “There’s something we need to discuss with you.”

“We?” Gabriel said, arching an eyebrow at Marinette.

“Sir,” Marinette said, softly, “I don’t know if you remember me, but I won your hat design competition about three years ago. Adrien and I go to school together.”

“Yes,” Gabriel said, “My memory is flawless. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, correct?”

Marinette flushed a bit at the man who used to be her inspiration recalling her name with perfect clarity, but she quickly came back to herself. She was there for Adrien.

“That’s correct,” she confirmed. “Adrien and I are very close, and I’m here because he’s extremely unhappy about going to Sweden. Sir, please, he can continue his studies here in Paris. It’s what he wants, and I don’t think either of us could stand to lose the other now.”

Gabriel frowned and placed his hands behind his back. “Young lady, I do what’s best for my son. Not what’s best for a girl he won’t be with a few months from now. You show talent for design, and you’re quite pretty...but you are still not good enough for my son. Adrien has always been overly sensitive and sentimental. Once he gets to Sweden and settles in, he’ll forget all about you.”

Marinette felt Adrien shift, but he didn’t release her hand. Looking over at him, his shoulders were shaking and she could tell he was trying not to cry.

Now Marinette was angry.

“If you wanted what’s best for your son,” she said, not taking her eyes off Adrien, “You would actually listen to him for a change. You would give him what he needs. Love, like a real family!”

“How dare you...” Gabriel said, starting to come out form behind his desk, but he was interrupted by Adrien.

“Forget it, Mari,” Adrien said, very quietly. “I told you it was hopeless. Let’s go to my room and study for finals.”

Without ever looking at his father, Adrien turned and left the office, dragging Marinette along with him.

Once they were sequestered away in his palatial bedroom, Marinette turned on the blonde boy, throwing both arms heavenward in frustration.

“Why didn’t you fight? You fight so hard for this city, but you didn’t stand up to your father at all!”

It only took a split second for Marinette to regret her words. Adrien was the victim, and she was yelling at him.

The boy didn’t seem bothered, however, as he turned to her with a shit-eating grin.

“I told you, there’s no point arguing with him. That’s why I’m going to run away.”

****

Marinette could only watch in amazement as Adrien ran around his room, throwing clothes and other necessities into a large hiking backpack.

Plagg, who Marinette had only just been properly introduced to, was buzzing around the room with Tikki. The cat kwami seemed grumpy on the surface, but Tikki had whispered to Marinette that he was really worried about Adrien. After all, Plagg had been privy to all of Adrien’s mistreatment at the hands of his father.

But while Tikki thought that running away from home was too rash a decision, Plagg was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Where will you sleep?” Marinette asked as Adrien whizzed by her to grab more things to throw into his bag. “How will you eat?” She asked when he passed her again.

The third time he tried crossing her path without answering, Marinette stuck one foot out and made Adrien fall flat on his stupid, beautiful face.

“Marinette,” he complained, sitting up and rubbing his jaw. “I need to hurry.”

“First of all,” Marinette began, taking on a tone that demanded his full attention, “You don’t need to hurry because we’re supposedly in here studying. No one suspects that you’re packing to run away from home. Which brings me to the main issue...you can’t just run away from home, Adrien! Your face is on posters and billboards all over Paris! Your dad will phone the police and maybe Scotland Yard or something! And then they’ll find you in a ditch somewhere and your only friends will be Plagg and a rat named Benjamin!”

Adrien was looking at the girl askance, to which Tikki landed on his shoulder and whispered, “It’s best to just let her vent when she gets like this.”

After Marinette paused for breath, Adrien started chuckling. Then, before he even knew what had happened, he was laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes.

He rolled around on the floor, clutching his stomach, picturing Plagg talking to a rat under a bridge somewhere.

Marinette crossed her arms in annoyance, and Adrien finally sat up and rubbed the water from his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Marinette,” he said, still giggling. “That was the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re so adorable.”

At that, Marinette could feel her face flushing. Part of it was her shyness kicking in, but another part of it was pride that Adrien found her adorable.

A small smile lit her face, and she reached out a hand to help Adrien to his feet.

Instead, he pulled her down with him.

Still giggling on the floor of his bedroom, the two embraced. Marinette rested her head on Adrien’s chest as he stared up at the ceiling.

“I’m coming with you,” Marinette finally said, breaking the companionable silence.

 

****

Gabriel knew that his son was Chat Noir, of course.

Rather than making his mission harder, however, the fact that the black cat Miraculous was right under his nose made everything so much easier.

Adrien would never willingly give up the ring, so Gabriel hatched a plan to force Adrien out of the country. With Chat Noir gone, he would be free to finally beat Ladybug and get his hands on her Miraculous. Then, with a sudden change of heart, Gabriel would bring his son back to Paris and take the ring then.

It was a flawless plan, except for the one thing Gabriel hadn’t expected.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

As he watched the teenagers roll around laughing on Adrien’s bedroom floor, courtesy of a hidden camera in his son’s room, Gabriel now had no doubt that Marinette was also Ladybug. The love between the two was palpable, and Gabriel found himself frowning.

He had never wanted to hurt Ladybug and Chat Noir. Not really. Not permanently. All he wanted was their Miraculous gems, and he would have left them alone after he finally achieved his goal. Learning that his son was the owner of one of the aforementioned gems made him even more careful. He generally avoided compelling anyone whose negative emotions were directed at Adrien, and it had worked out pretty well so far.

Unfortunately, right under his nose, the Dupain-Cheng girl seemed dead set on ruining everything.

There was no audio, but Gabriel didn’t need to hear what was being said. The teenagers eventually stopped laughing and rolled onto their sides, facing each other.

He watched as they slowly leaned in and kissed, but finally turned away as Adrien’s hands disappeared under Marinette’s shirt, and he began stroking the bare skin at her waist.

Turning off the monitor, Gabriel looked over his shoulder at the portrait of his wife.

He mumbled a plea, asking for her help, but of course she just kept smiling back at him, forever silent.

Soon, though, that would change.

****

Marinette let her eyes drift closed as Adrien absently ran his warm hands up and down her sides.

“You can’t come with me,” Adrien whispered. “You have a family who loves you, and friends who would miss you.”

“So do you,” Marinette replied, just as quietly, without opening her eyes.

She felt his lips brush softly against her forehead, and she smiled.

Opening her big blue eyes, her gaze was met with shining green. Everything about Adrien’s face seemed to glow when he looked at her, and she felt her face heating up. So much had happened between them in such a short amount of time, that it was a bit disconcerting for Marinette. If she let herself really think about it, about how she was together with Adrien in the way she’d always dreamed, and that she didn’t even have to hurt Chat Noir in the process because her crush and her cat were one in the same...well, better that she not dwell on it when there were more pressing matters at hand, and she needed a clear head.

Though, in fairness, being held by Adrien wasn’t exactly helping her problem-solving abilities.

Sitting up with a groan, Marinette said, “We need to think this through, kitty. You can’t leave Paris because Ladybug needs Chat Noir, and Paris needs us both. And I won’t work with another Chat Noir! I don’t even want to think about it!”

“Which is hilarious,” Adrien said, also sitting up but draping an arm around her shoulders, “Because I was dead set on sending you to be the new Chat Noir. Because I trust you, and I know how brave you are...but there may have been a tiny selfish reason, too.”

Marinette blinked at him. “And what’s that?”

A huge grin spread across Adrien’s face as he said, “There was no way I was going to choose another guy to take my place! The thought of another man falling in love with my Lady, and her maybe loving him back...that would have been a nightmare!”

Marinette rolled her eyes at him and stood up, pulling him with her. 

“Good plan, Casanova. Now can we please take a moment and think about this Sweden thing more seriously? Let’s go back to my house...I’ll check in with my parents and go to my room, and you can sneak in as Chat after my parents go to bed.”

“Oooooh,” Adrien trilled, pulling a mischievous face, “A midnight rendezvous? How romantic, princess.”

Marinette pushed his face away, quickly reflecting that this side of Adrien was both adorable and extremely annoying.

But there was no one else she would rather be annoyed by, for as long as he’d have her.

Which, according to him, was forever.

“Walk me out?” Marinette said, turning toward the door with her school bag in hand.

Adrien offered an arm, and Marinette let him escort her out.

“I’ll see you later,” he whispered, once they were outside.

Then, with a wink and a quick peck on her lips, he went back into his home and closed the door.

****

Marinette couldn’t stop pacing and checking the clock.

Where the hell was Adrien?

Tikki fluttered around her, trying to comfort her Chosen.

“I’m sure everything is fine, Marinette,” Tikki assured her. “He probably ended up having to talk to his father again, or maybe he fell asleep!”

“Something doesn’t feel right, Tikki,” Marinette insisted. “I can’t explain it, but it’s like when Chat and I are fighting together...I can sense him, and I know that he understands what I’m planning, without me having to say a word. Now I feel a kind of...emptiness.”

Tikki knew exactly what Marinette meant, of course. After all, it had been that way between the ladybug and the black cat for centuries. The kwami said nothing, however, because Marinette was already worrying herself sick.

And because Tikki could no longer sense Plagg.

Finally, Marinette heard a thump up on her balcony and sprinted up to the roof. Her heart was pounding wildly, in anticipation of finally seeing an unruly mop of blonde hair, to see that he was okay...

Instead, she saw a stranger sitting casually in one of the chairs she kept on the balcony, next to a small table.

He had his legs crossed and his gloved hands folded in front of him.

Any and all words left Marinette. It didn’t even occur to her that she should call out to Tikki to transform her.

The man, lit only in the pale glow of streetlights and a few nearby windows, slowly sat a small item on Marinette’s glass bistro table.

She didn’t even need to see it in the darkness to know what it was.

Adrien’s ring.

“I thought it was finally time that we were properly introduced,” the man said, leaning further into the light filtering up from Marinette’s room.

His cowl covered his every feature, aside from his mouth and icy blue eyes.

As Marinette watched, his cruel mouth twisted into the words she knew were coming, just as surely as if she’d read his mind.

“Good evening, Ladybug. I’m Papillon.”

 

_**To Be Continued...** _


	2. My Lovely Foe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gabriel is out of his goddamn mind.

Marinette struggled to find words. Any words. Like trying to pull up a file on a computer that you know for sure you saved, but it’s just gone. That was an accurate analogy, actually...her brain felt like a short-circuiting computer.

Gaping like a fish out of water, the first thing Marinette finally said, with a certain amount of menace that surprised even herself, was, “Where is he?”

Papillon gave her a tight-lipped smile, as if her hard-fought question was the most obvious thing she could have said.

“Safe,” Papillon said, leaning back in the chair a bit.

“You’re lying,” she said, finding that fear was quickly being replaced by anger.

“Why would I lie? I’ve never lied to you. My intentions have always been quite clear. Although, I suppose every time we’ve interacted in the past, there have been lies through omission. Wouldn’t you agree, Marinette?”

Marinette hesitated, even as her heart plunged into her stomach. Did her arch enemy just admit that they’ve interacted...outside of costume? Or did he just mean through every akuma he’d ever unleashed upon them? Or that first time, at the Eiffel Tower?

She swallowed hard in an effort to choke down the mix of fear, rage, and confusion. He certainly had her at a disadvantage.

“Leading a double life does come with some inconvenient white lies,” she said, proud of how steady her voice was. “But we do that to protect those we love. I doubt you’d know anything about that.”

Papillon leaned toward her again, frowning. “Stop pretending to know a thing about me, _mademoiselle_. As much as you’d like to think the worst of me, there are people I love. Love is why I do these things. It’s you who are too young, too optimistic, and too stupid to understand that there are two or more sides to all things.”

Marinette watched him as he spoke, trying to notice anything familiar about the man. The placement of his Miraculous was obvious...Marinette had seen it ages ago in the pages of an old book. The butterfly brooch was clipped at his throat, almost mocking her. But if there was anything else...any weakness or clue as to the man’s true intentions...she wasn’t seeing it.

So she finally did either the bravest or dumbest thing she could have done.

She let herself fully onto the balcony, putting her physically closer to Papillon, and shut the trap door to her bedroom.

Tikki was hiding just inside her jacket, and knowing her kwami was with her made Marinette more bold. She didn’t know if she could physically take on the older man, but he didn’t appear to have a weapon. And, while he seemed to see her youth as a flaw, she thought that perhaps she would have speed and stamina on her side if it came to a fight.

“Tell me,” Marinette said, taking the second seat at her bistro table, and facing Papillon.

Her actions were obviously unexpected (even for her,) but the villain quickly schooled his features. 

Marinette had seen it, though. 

He had been surprised. Caught off guard.

Maybe she could use that.

“Tell me,” she repeated. “Tell me about your loved ones. Tell me why you do these things. Because I may be young, and you might think I’m too optimistic, but it’s because of that optimism that I want to believe you. If you just tell me why you’re so desperate, I will stop at nothing to help you. And I know Chat Noir would agree with me. But we would do it without hurting people. There has to be a better way.”

She had definitely blindsided the purple-clad man, because his very controlled facade slipped just a bit more right before her eyes.

“And you have to promise me that Chat Noir is safe,” she added. “I’ll need him back if we’re going to help you.”

“No,” Papillon said. “No, it’s too late. He’s already seen...but once I succeed, he’ll understand, and he’ll forgive me.”

Marinette arched an eyebrow at that.

Curiouser and curiouser.

“What did he see?” She found herself whispering, while looking down at the ring that still rested on her table. She hadn’t had the heart to reach out for it, even when it seemed that Papillon was distracted. She would let him have the damned thing as long as Adrien was returned to her in one piece. 

Papillon definitely looked like he was about to break. It was as if all of his composure had been posturing, because he thought he’d easily intimidate her by hiding in shadows and showing her Adrien’s ring. Composure and ease were two separate things, however, and she’d definitely made him uneasy. 

He hadn’t expected any of this.

“Me,” Papillon finally choked out. “He saw me. He saw _this_. I couldn’t let him leave. I was losing control of the situation, so I had to act quickly. I could never hurt him...not physically, and not easily. At least, I thought so until the moment that I did. I’m sure he’ll be fine once he wakes up. I left some aspirin and a glass of water by his bed. But the house is on lockdown, and I took his Miraculous, so there will be no sneaking out of windows. No one gets in or out now except for me.”

Papillon was staring blankly at the side of Marinette’s house as he babbled on about aspirin and windows. He never once turned to face her, and for a brief moment she truly felt sorry for him. Because, whatever it was he’d done, it was clear that he didn’t want to do it.

So that begged the question: What was so important that he would go against his own nature and physically hurt someone like Adrien? Adrien was sweet and unassuming, and Papillon spoke of him with a certain tenderness that confused her.

“If you didn’t want to hurt him...and even thought that you _couldn’t_ hurt him...then why did you?” Marinette asked, gently.

Finally turning to look at the girl, Papillon actually smiled. There was no humor in it, but a strange sort of acceptance.

“I can see why he loves you,” he said. “You’re actually quite like his mother was. She saw the good in everyone, too. Even in me. Adrien brought joy to others from his very first breath, and I remember thinking how lucky it was that he took after her.”

Marinette’s eyes had gone wide as bits of his ramblings actually started to fall into place. It was still like a puzzle with missing pieces, but the picture was starting to come together. 

Papillon continued, undeterred by Marinette’s expression.

“Of course someone as good as Adrien would attract a Miraculous. He was actually Chosen. Just like his mother. I had to steal mine. Someone like me would never deserve to hold a Miraculous, otherwise.”

Marinette’s hand flew to her mouth.

She definitely knew who Papillon was, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

Apparently, bad luck really did follow her kitty.

“Your wife,” Marinette said from behind her hand. “Adrien’s mother. She’s...dead?”

Papillon blinked then, as if coming out of a trance, and stared at her.

Then, so fast that he was nothing but a dark blur, he jumped to his feet and overturned Marinette’s glass table, causing it to shatter at her feet.

A moment later, from down in her bedroom, she heard her mother calling.

“Marinette? Sweetheart? Are you alright? We heard something breaking...”

Terror gripped Marinette’s heart as she looked down through her trap door and saw how close her mother was. 

Close to danger, close to Papillon.

And, damn it, this is why she wanted to keep their identities a secret!

By the time she’d looked back up, though, Papillon was gone.

Staring down at the glass shards at her feet, she realized that Adrien’s ring was gone, too.

With a sigh, Marinette wriggled back into her room.

“Sorry, Mama,” she said to her harried-looking mother. “I couldn’t sleep so I went up for some fresh air, and I knocked my table over.”

With a sigh, Sabine nodded at her daughter.

“Please be more careful, dear. One of these days you could get seriously hurt.”

Marinette forced a smile and wished her mother goodnight again, but Sabine’s words were ringing in her ears.

_One of these days you could get seriously hurt._

Too late.

With a sigh, Marinette let Tikki out of her jacket, knowing that the kwami had heard Papillon just as clearly as she had.

“Tikki,” she said, with a sadness that had taken root like a deep ache in her soul, “transform me.”

 

****

 

Adrien woke up in the dark. That was generally normal, as it was nighttime, but this darkness was oppressive in a way that made his stomach drop. There was no moonlight streaming in through his windows, or lights from the street.

And his head was absolutely killing him.

“Plagg?” He called out, quietly.

There was no response.

On pure instinct, he reached down to rub the surface of the ring that hadn’t left his right hand in three years...but there was nothing but bare skin.

Terror gripped him.

His ring was gone.

Plagg was gone.

He began frantically feeling around within the sheets and blankets that surrounded him, and came up empty.

He placed his aching head in his hands and tried to take some deep, calming breaths. Because, otherwise, he was going to completely lose it.

After a moment of trying to stave off a full blown panic attack, Adrien tried to look at his situation from a more clinical standpoint.

These were the facts:

His Miraculous was gone.  
He was in his own bed.  
He had a splitting headache.

And then, finally, an image floated into his mind like a ghost.

His father.

His father had surprised him just as he was about to transform and go meet Marinette.

Adrien had asked him to leave, saying that he was in no mood to talk about what had happened earlier.

When he turned his back to his father, dismissing the older Agreste, something had hit him on the head...hard.

And then, nothing.

Adrien could hardly believe it, but it honestly seemed like his own father had knocked him out and taken his ring.

Reaching out to his bedside lamp, he shut his eyes against the sudden light and cringed in pain. When he finally opened his eyes again, he saw on his nightstand some white pills and a glass of water.

“Seriously?” He grumbled to himself. Leave it to his father to knock him unconscious and then do something kind of nice in one fell swoop.

Grudgingly, he took the medicine and chugged the entire glass of water. He assumed it was aspirin, since he still wanted to believe that his father wouldn’t actually poison him.

Adrien was lost in dark thoughts when the one person he was expecting but also dreading appeared by the foot of this bed.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake,” Gabriel said, standing stiffly with his hands behind his back.

“Are you?” Adrien bit out.

“Of course,” Gabriel assured him, ignoring his son’s hostility. “I never meant to harm you. I never wanted it to come to this, but that girl left me no choice.”

At the mention of Marinette, Adrien sat completely upright, ignoring the pounding in his head, and all but yelled, “What have you done to her?!”

Gabriel held up one hand, as if in surrender, and said, “I did nothing. I went to her, hoping to explain the situation and talk some sense into her. It felt like a victory, finally knowing the identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir...but things didn’t go as planned. They never seem to, lately.”

Adrien glared at the man and said, “She’ll stop you. Whatever it is you’re planning, she won’t let you succeed.”

Gabriel’s gaze suddenly appeared to be far away, as if he were looking through Adrien and seeing something far beyond the confines of his bedroom.

“She will,” Gabriel finally said. “You both will, once you realize that none of it has been for myself.”

Adrien opened to mouth to ask his father just what the hell that meant, but was interrupted by a giant hole being blown into one of his windows...reinforced steel coverings and all.

“That would be your girlfriend,” Gabriel said with a sigh. “I’ll take my leave, then.”

And just like that, he left his son’s room. Adrien faintly heard the door lock in his father’s wake.

“Adrien!” Ladybug yelled, breathlessly, running over to him. “Are you alright?! Did he hurt you?!”

“Nothing important,” Adrien said with a smile, taking in the girl’s harried appearance, “Just my head.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes at him, then tackled him with a hug.

Sitting on his bed, holding Ladybug, was not where Adrien thought this night was going to take him.

When her earrings started to beep, he pulled away from her a bit and said, “You used a Lucky Charm to break into my room?”

She nodded, squeezing him tighter.

“He came to me,” she whispered into the crook of Adrien’s neck. “He came to me, at my house. He knows everything. I had to make sure you weren’t dead in a ditch somewhere.”

Adrien gave a raspy laugh at that. “What is it with you and ditches?”

After their final beep, Ladybug’s transformation gave way to reveal Marinette, and her kwami.

“At least now we know,” Tikki said, without preamble. “This whole time, it was imperative that Papillon be located and stopped, but none of us realized he was right under our noses.”

Still holding Marinette, Adrien addressed the red kwami. “Where’s Plagg? Do you know if he’s been harmed?”

Tikki shook her head. “I can’t sense the ring right now, because it’s not being used, and Plagg would currently be dormant within his Miraculous. That is the state in which we hibernate when not being worn or wanted by a Chosen. A Chosen can wish us away, if they choose, and call to us only as needed. But you and Marinette are kind, and let us stay free. I’m afraid that Nooroo, the butterfly kwami, is mostly kept as a prisoner. I rarely sense more than just his energy, and only when Papillon has sent an akuma. With Plagg, when he’s free, I can always sense his presence, and he can sense mine.”

Marinette had let go of Adrien without even realizing it, and both teenagers found themselves completely absorbed in what Tikki was telling them. 

“Wait,” Marinette said, as something suddenly dawned on her. “Does that mean that you and Plagg knew this whole time that you were in the same class together, every day?”

Tikki just giggled.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” Marinette said under her breath.

Adrien chuckled and only flinched slightly from his headache.

Turning serious again, Marinette reached up and carded her fingers through his hair.

“This is a lot to take in,” she said, gently. “But we really should start brainstorming a way to rescue Plagg, keep our family and friends safe, and...”

“Wait!” Tikki suddenly cried out, as loudly as her little voice could manage.

Adrien and Marinette spun their heads to look at her, their eyes wide.

“He’s coming,” Tikki continued, with a frown. “And he has three Miraculous gems.”

Marinette’s eyebrows knit together at that, her brain trying to make sense of her kwami’s declaration. 

“But he should only have two,” Adrien said, even though he knew he was pointing out the obvious. “Nooroo, and now Plagg. That’s what you said before.”

Tikki nodded. “Yes. But I assure you, I’m not wrong. There is a third Miraculous. I’m trying to make out which it is...but there’s no time. I have to hide!”

With that, she flitted off to the second story of Adrien’s bedroom, taking cover somewhere among his books.

Gabriel entered just a few seconds later to see Marinette Dupain-Cheng protectively wrapped around his son.

The older Agreste had both hands behind his back, and he surveyed the situation with a frown.

“I believe we’ve done enough talking, Miss Cheng,” he finally said. “You will give me your earrings, and all of this will end.”

“Not on your life,” she bit out through clenched teeth, strengthening her hold on Adrien. 

Gabriel seemed to consider that before saying, “My life hardly matters at this juncture. Not to you, anyway. What about...on _his_ life?” 

And then Gabriel removed his hands from behind his back, revealing a small handgun. It looked antique, with a brown grip and a long, thin, matte iron barrel.

Marinette could only gape at the man as he leveled the weapon right at Adrien.

“You have until the count of three,” Gabriel said, as calmly as if he were reciting the dictionary.

Adrien couldn’t move as he stared down the barrel of a gun that his own father was pointing at him.

“One...”

“Father...?”

“Two...”

“TIKKI!” Marinette screamed, “TRANSFORM ME!”

“-- Three.”

Marinette didn’t hear Gabriel speak the number three, but she did hear the gun go off. It was old, so even in a room the size of Adrien’s, it packed a punch. Literally and figuratively.

Adrien shook his still-pounding head to clear the sound of the gunshot from his ears. 

At the same time that he realized that he should be feeling pain somewhere, he noticed the red-clad girl collapsed across his lap. Then, from underneath her, his white sheets began to pool with red, as well.

“Marinette?” Adrien finally found his voice.

There was no response. She didn’t even look at him.

Adrien began shaking her...gently, at first, but then harder.

“MARINETTE!” Her name tore from his throat, but she still didn’t move.

Then, finally, something happened.

She detransformed, causing Tikki to fall listlessly onto the bed.

Marinette remained silent, her body laying face down across Adrien’s legs. Her face was tilted toward Gabriel, so Adrien could only see her dark pigtails, which had come loose from their bindings. Strands of her hair...hair that Adrien was finally allowed to touch, and smell, and push behind her ear...were the only things breaking up all of the red.

So much red. All of it pouring from Marinette.

Adrien closed his eyes tightly, fighting against the tears, but it was a losing battle.

“What have you done?” He was finally able to choke out in the direction of his father.

When there was no answer, he opened glassy eyes, made even greener by his flushed face, and screamed, “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

“I have done nothing,” Gabriel said, walking closer to the bed. “You’ll see. Do the smart thing, the right thing, and let me take her Miraculous. Then I’ll show you what I’ve been trying to do. Soon, none of this will matter.”

“Not matter,” Adrien repeated, completely deflating. His father had gone mad, his soulmate was dead and still bleeding out on his bed, and he had no power whatsoever.

He didn’t even notice when Gabriel reached out and plucked Marinette’s earrings from her.

With wild eyes, the older man clutched them in one hand.

“Finally,” he whispered.

Adrien looked over at Tikki to see if she could do anything, but the kwami had vanished.

_Oh._

“ - Are you ready, son?” Gabriel was saying when Adrien tuned back in.

His voice raw, terrified of his still armed father, and probably suffering from shock, Adrien managed to quietly ask, “Ready for what?”

“Are you ready to see your mother?” Gabriel said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Adrien just stared at him.

“And,” Gabriel continued. “If you’re good...you can see your Marinette again, as well.”

Looking down at the dead girl on his lap, Adrien had only one thought:

_All this time, my father was insane and I didn’t even notice._

 

**To Be Continued...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel's gun is, specifically, a Walther P38. It's a German-made WWII pistol. I just feel like he'd probably have something like that, because one in good condition costs around $3,000.
> 
> Also, sorry that this is going longer than two chapters. I totally didn't plan that at all. But chapter three will definitely be the grand finale.


	3. Never Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papillon's plan comes to fruition, but not exactly in the way he expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! I didn't mean to finish on Mother's Day, but it's actually very fitting. Thank you all for the kudos and comments, they fuel my obsession with this show!

Butterflies.

White, pure butterflies were everywhere.

Adrien gasped as he entered a room he hadn’t even known existed. Here he was, trying to fight crime and save Paris, and there was an attic room in his own damn house that he’d never noticed before.

He watched as his father strode confidently toward a small table in the center of the room. The only light was coming from the shining butterflies, but Adrien’s intense focus on his father made it easy for him to follow the man’s silhouette.

Adrien felt helpless as his father placed Marinette’s earrings onto his sleeves like cufflinks. Just the fact that someone else was touching them, when they belonged to _her_ , filled him with rage. But it was a rage he was in no position to act upon.

Then, Gabriel placed something onto the table. Something that Adrien had seen once before, a long time ago.

It was a brooch in the shape of a peacock.

This was all done silently, and Adrien wondered if his father even remembered that he was there.

“Son,” Gabriel finally said as he lifted Adrien’s ring from his jacket pocket. “I’m so happy that you get to witness this, at long last.”

Then, Gabriel slipped the ring onto his finger, and Adrien had to close his eyes against the bright white light that flickered into existence before retreating again.

When Adrien opened his eyes, he saw Plagg and Tikki, their heads bowed in a way that made Adrien’s heart skip. It was as if they had also given up, and were accepting a lifetime of servitude under their new master. 

Or, perhaps, they just knew what was coming.

“Kwami of creation, and kwami of destruction,” Gabriel said, much more quietly than Adrien would have expected in this triumphant moment. “I order you to break the laws that exist, and bring back the last life taken while wielding a Miraculous.”

Plagg and Tikki raised their tiny arms, and placed the palms of their paws together.

Tikki finally looked up at Gabriel, and her voice was strained as she said, “Please, once we do this...bring back Marinette, as well.”

“I make no promises,” Gabriel said, coldly. “However, if it would please my son, I will.”

Tikki nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer, then turned back to Plagg.

“Let’s get this over with,” Plagg said, his eyes turning to Adrien for a split second before landing back on Tikki.

Both kwami closed their eyes again, and instantaneously they were swirling in the air above the peacock brooch.

Adrien could no longer distinguish Plagg from Tikki, either due to their speed causing an optical illusion, or because they had literally melded together. Neither option would have surprised him.

A glow, less obnoxious than the kwami joining but brighter than the butterflies, began to emanate from the peacock Miraculous. Adrien knew the brooch couldn’t be anything else. He’d seen it in his father’s safe, but had paid no attention at the time because Plagg had drawn his attention away from it and toward the book that he ultimately lost. Now, Adrien wondered if Plagg had done that on purpose.

The peacock slowly lifted into the air, as if being drawn by the floating kwami, and was soon no longer sitting on the table. Adrien gasped as a figure began to emerge as if out of no where. First a faint outline, then obvious blonde hair that was pulled to the side and braided, then a collar where the brooch sat.

Tikki and Plagg were slowing their movements just as the figure began to solidify, and Adrien’s breath caught in his throat.

Gabriel extended his arms as if to hug the figure who had just become corporeal, completely ignoring the kwami who had collapsed onto the table where the brooch had been.

She opened green eyes and stood up straight, finally looking at the man who had brought her back.

“Gabriel,” Angelique Agreste said, sounding awfully confident for someone who had just been dead a moment ago. “What have you done?”

****

Adrien was crying. He had no idea what the hell had just happened, but his mother had appeared out of thin air wearing a beautiful teal peacock costume, with a Miraculous pinned at her throat, and she was alive.

The alive part was what he couldn’t quite get his brain around.

Gabriel lowered his arms, and actually seemed to falter under his wife’s scrutiny.

“I had no other choice,” he finally said. “I had to bring you back, so we could be a family again. I did it for Adrien.”

That particular comment snapped the boy in question out of his haze.

“Bullshit!” Adrien snarled, sounding as much like an angry cat as a human possibly could.

His parents both turned to him, surprised by his outburst, but his eyes stayed trained on his father.

“If any of this was for me,” Adrien said, his voice low and dangerous as he stalked slightly closer to Gabriel, “You would have just asked. You would have explained yourself. You wouldn’t have hidden and sent supervillains to try and kill us and take our Miraculouses, and you wouldn’t have _murdered_ the girl I love.”

Angelique’s mouth dropped open as she turned to her husband once more.

“Gabriel,” she said again. “How could you?”

Gabriel held up both hands in surrender to his wife. “I had no other choice,” he repeated. “I looked everywhere for another solution, but I found no alternative. I found a lost Miraculous, the butterfly, in Tibet. I knew if I could twist the power to make heroes into the power to make villains, it would draw out the ladybug and the black cat. And it worked! But I had no idea that Adrien was the cat...not at first, anyway. If I’d known from the start, maybe things could have been different. But you know how stubborn he can be, and that girl he was with...”

“SHUT UP!” Adrien screeched, lunging at his father. “You don’t get to talk about her!”

Gabriel caught his son’s wrists, holding him firmly in place.

They were interrupted by a small voice from the table.

“Marinette,” Tikki moaned. “Please, while we still can.”

Adrien and Angelique both turned to look at the kwami who were struggling to stay awake.

Angelique moved around Gabriel and took her son into her arms.

“Shhhh,” she cooed, stroking his hair. “It will be alright. I assume Marinette is the ladybug?”

Adrien could only nod into his mother’s shoulder.

Angelique looked over at her husband with an expression that could only be described as disgust.

“Do it,” she ordered him. “Quickly.”

Gabriel nodded and moved to the table. He removed the earrings from his wrists and placed them upon the table next to the two kwami.

Tikki shook Plagg a bit, and they placed their tiny paws together again.

The light and the spinning was the same as before. But this time, as the earrings lifted from their pedestal, they separated and a head began to take form in between them.

Adrien looked up and over his mother’s shoulder, his breath hitching as the dark hair and pigtails became more prominent, and he started to see limbs and clothes.

It was only a few more seconds before Marinette formed, her eyes squeezed shut, and she tumbled to her knees.

Angelique released her son, and he ran to the girl, hefting her into his arms.

“Marinette,” he whispered, tears streaming down his face. “You’re back.”

Slowly, Marinette lifted an arm and placed a hand on top of his head, pulling her fingers gently through his hair.

“Silly kitty,” she said, but her voice was strained. “You know that everything usually turns out alright.”

 

****

Fu was furious.

He had felt the disturbance all the way down to his bones, though it was nothing compared to what Wayzz must have been feeling.

“Master,” Wayzz said, floating over. “It is done. The ladybug and the black cat should be returning soon.”

Fu sighed and stood. “Much too soon,” he said to his kwami. “And as this is a special case, I think we should go to them.”

Wayzz nodded and followed his master out the door.

Fu was no spring chicken, but he made good time arriving at the Agreste mansion. He did not transform, nor did he pay any attention to the security at the gate. He was much too busy following the flow of energy, the energy of creation, that made him feel more nauseous the closer he came to it.

He could have closed his eyes and still made it to the attic room with no issues. That’s how strong the pull of the magic had become. Fu had only experienced it one other time in his long life, and it had resulted in the ladybug Miraculous, and the black cat Miraculous, becoming dormant until he unleashed them upon Paris.

All because Papillon had done the one thing Fu had never been able to do: Find the butterfly Miraculous. And then the idea of twisting the power...Fu would have been impressed if it hadn’t caused him such a headache.

And now, heartache.

He stood in the open door of the room, his cane planted firmly in front of him, and took in the scene.

Angelique Agreste had her arms wrapped around both Adrien and Marinette, and was guiding them out when she spotted Fu.

“Master Fu,” she said, and then looked at the floor. “I - I guess I should have expected you.”

“Cristatus,” he greeted her, calmly. 

Angelique tensed at the name.

“I haven’t been called that in a long time,” she said, finally looking at the older man again.

“Far too long,” he said, and then flashed her a small smile. “It’s good to see you again. If this had to happen, I’m glad it was you...and Ladybug. I wouldn’t have been able to stand losing you both.”

Angelique nodded and let go of the two teenagers, raising her hands to her throat.

“I assume you’ve come for this,” she said as she unpinned her Miraculous, and her transformation dropped.

She held the gem out to him, and Fu took it without comment.

He brushed past Angelique and the children and made his way over to Gabriel.

The designer had deflated. His head hung in defeat, and his body drifted listlessly from side to side.

His greatest triumph hadn’t gone anything like he’d planned.

Fu regarded him with no expression, he simply held out a hand.

Wordlessly, Gabriel removed the ring and dropped it into Fu’s hand. Then he reached into a pocket and also deposited the butterfly Miraculous into the old man’s waiting grip.

Fu then turned to the nearly comatose kwami laying on a small table, and said with a great deal of sadness, “Wayzz, Nooroo, can you please help them?”

“Of course, Master,” Wayzz replied, flying out from Fu’s shirt collar.

Nooroo appeared from the butterfly brooch when called, but said nothing as he joined the turtle kwami in waking Tikki and Plagg just enough to escort them to the door.

Angelique watched as Fu approached Marinette, and Adrien wrapped a protective arm around the girl. 

“Ladybug,” Fu said, very gently. “I will need to collect your Miraculous.”

Looking so tired that she was ready to collapse, Marinette blinked at the older man a few times before actually focusing on him.

“But...why?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Once the act of bringing back a life, or in this case two lives, is complete,” Fu explained. “It has drained Tikki and Plagg of so much power that they must go dormant inside their Miraculous gems. This seems to happen once every few generations, which is why the book of heroes is normally kept with the Guardian. In that regard, I have failed. I have failed twice in my duty, and that is something I can never forgive myself for.”

“Twice?” Adrien muttered, and he also sounded completely drained. “What was the other one?”

Fu looked at Angelique, and she looked at the top of her son’s head.

“Me,” the woman said. “He chose me, and I failed him.”

“Mom?” Adrien questioned, looking up at her.

“That is a story for another time,” Fu interrupted before they could tumble down that rabbit hole. “Ladybug, the earrings if you please.”

Almost in slow motion, Marinette removed the earrings that had been her constant companions for three years. She had never taken them off for any reason, and now as she handed them to the Guardian, she felt weak and helpless.

After Marinette handed over her earrings to Fu, he motioned them from the room. “Let us go somewhere private so you can say goodbye to your kwami.”

“My room,” Adrien said, and led the way.

No one was left to see when Gabriel fell to his knees in a dark room devoid of magic.

****

Fu had shown himself out, leaving the young heroes to their goodbyes.

“The kwami will remain for as long as they can hold on,” he had explained. “The gems will not be so far away that they will disappear until they’re ready.”

So they found themselves seated on the sofa in Adrien’s room, holding one last conversation with their kwami.

Marinette held Tikki in both hands, and leaned down to give the little red fairy a kiss on the top of her head.

“I’ll miss you so much, Tikki,” Marinette said through her tears.

“I’ll miss you too, Marinette,” Tikki managed even though she was barely conscious. “My time with you has been a joy. But know that every Ladybug remains in my heart forever.”

Marinette forced a smile and said, “If you wake up again in my lifetime, please look me up.”

Tikki smiled back, and then disappeared in a flash of light.

After her kwami was gone, Marinette doubled over and placed both elbows on her knees as she sobbed into her now empty hands.

Adrien’s parting with Plagg was slightly less emotional, but still painful.

“Thanks for all the cheese, kid,” Plagg said.

Adrien gave him a watery smile and said, “Thanks for the adventure. I can never thank you enough for the freedom you gave me. And for helping me find Marinette.”

“Don’t thank me for that,” Plagg replied with a smirk, “thank Fu.”

And then he was gone, too.

Angelique was not on the sofa with the children, but was standing at Adrien’s windows, arms crossed, looking out at nothing.

When Marinette started being able to swallow her sobs, she looked up and saw Adrien’s mother standing alone, her back to them. 

The former Ladybug rose and walked over to the older woman.

“Mrs. Agreste?” she said, “Are you alright?”

The blonde woman looked at the girl’s big blue eyes, still glistening with tears, and she smiled.

“I’ll be fine, sweetheart,” she said. “But it’s very kind of you to ask. I’m so glad Adrien found you. Thank you for being there for him when I couldn’t be.”

Marinette felt her cheeks heat up at the woman’s heartfelt words.

“It was my pleasure,” she said, suddenly shy. Then she fidgeted a bit before asking, “Um, are you not going to say goodbye to your kwami?”

Angelique smiled wistfully. “He’s not here,” she said. “He’s already in the brooch. We’ve both been gone for a while. Since kwami are immortal, once my life was over, he was trapped in the gem. As a fail-safe for when the Chosen pass away, my body was not left behind. There would be too many questions if someone like Gabriel Agreste’s shut-in wife was found dead wearing only her pajamas and a peacock brooch.”

She smiled then, a genuine smile, and continued.

“I was in the brooch, too. My soul, that is. When you...I’m so sorry, but when you died, the same thing happened.”

Adrien had silently wandered over to listen to his mother’s story, but now he spoke up.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “Marinette’s body was right here. I held her in my arms. Her blood is still on my sheets.”

Marinette cringed at that, and Adrien pulled her into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, it’s fine,” Marinette said into his neck. “It’s over now.”

Angelique nodded. “She’s right. This is over. This entire page of our lives is over, and frankly I can’t wait to move on from it. As to your point, Adrien, the magic of the Miraculous isn’t always instantaneous. In the same way it took a bit of time to transform into our alter-egos, it took some time for Marinette to become one with her gem.”

Adrien nodded and then changed the subject.

“What now?” he asked. “What about father?”

Angelique’s eyes narrowed a bit at that.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she replied, honestly. “Part of me is really grateful for what your father has sacrificed on this...fool’s errand. But everything he’s done...to this city and her people, to you and Marinette...I can’t just let that go.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

All three turned to the doorway to see Gabriel standing there, awkwardly, not fully entering the room.

“Gabriel,” Angelique said, pulling both Adrien and Marinette to her.

Gabriel winced at that. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I’ll go if that’s your wish. I will remove myself from your life, and from our son’s life, and I’ll do so gladly just knowing that you’re both alive and happy. But if you allow me to stay...I swear everything will be different. I won’t try to smother either of you again. I never meant to...to smother the life out of both of you so much that your only escape was a Miraculous. I never meant for either of you to want to get away from me so badly.”

Adrien slowly pulled away from his mother and girlfriend, and approached his father.

“I wasn’t trying to get away from you,” Adrien said. “I was lonely. If anything, I wanted more time with you. You threw expensive trinkets at me when all I really wanted was a father.”

“I’m sorry,” Gabriel breathed. “I had no idea how to do what I was doing as Papillon and be a father to you at the same time. After your mother...I couldn’t reconcile the two. So I decided that it would be safer for you if I were just Papillon. And then when I discovered that you were Chat Noir, I nearly broke down at how cruel it all was. But by that point, I was already too far gone.”

“Mother,” Adrien said, not taking his eyes off Gabriel. “If it’s alright with you...maybe we should try starting over?"

Angelique opened her mouth, and for a moment it looked like she was going to protest, but then her expression softened.

“That’s fine with me, darling,” she finally said. “If you’re willing to try, then I am, too.”

Gabriel dared a small smile, and something he had not felt in a very long time swelled in his chest.

Hope.

 

****

 

“I’m going to miss being able to show up uninvited on your balcony,” Adrien said as he walked Marinette to the door.

She looked up at him with so much adoration that he was rendered speechless.

“So will I,” she said. Then she leaned up and gave him a lingering kiss goodbye.

Actually, it didn’t have to be goodbye. Not ever again.

Marinette’s arms went around Adrien’s neck, and his hands went to her hips and pulled her closer to him.

Their kiss went on, and it wasn’t a kiss of goodbye.

It was a kiss that promised a new chapter.

Goodbye would never cross their lips again.

 

_**The End.** _


End file.
